Yes...having the females mature quickly ensures that the species will continue. Having the males mature quickly isn't necessary, as it just takes a few of them to keep the females preggers.
If you've ever watched Quarter Horse racing, the fillies often kick butt, and not just occasionally.

Yes...having the females mature quickly ensures that the species will continue. Having the males mature quickly isn't necessary, as it just takes a few of them to keep the females preggers. If you've ever watched Quarter Horse racing, the fillies often kick butt, and not just occasionally.

Not as much as you think.
Same species.
Colts gain ground around time for the classics. Male hubris in the US runs deep.
Of course, no mare could ever beat a stallion.
Never happened, right? Winx.... Zenyatta.. Kinczem....all the others, all in our imagination, weren't they? All those studs must have been sick that day.

Not as much as you think.
Same species.
Colts gain ground around time for the classics. Male hubris in the US runs deep.
Of course, no mare could ever beat a stallion.
Never happened, right? Winx.... Zenyatta.. Kinczem....all the others, all in our imagination, weren't they? All those studs must have been sick that day.

Please find where I said that it never happened and then get back to me. Females can compete well with males in sprints and on turf or synthetic just fine. If you want to go 10f on dirt, I would advise you roll the dice in the fall and probably only once a season. And before you sprain a finger reminding me about Genuine Risk and Winning Colors, I remember them, they’re exceptions that prove the rule. My point was just because female QH’s running 300-440 yards can beat males doesn’t mean it would happen with regularity with TB’s. If it did trainers would run fillies against colts on a regular basis as the purses are usually higher.

Isn't it a little more complex than that? Sociological factors aside, our expectations tend to be self-fulfilling. And if it hasn't been done in a while or seriously tried, it's less likely someone would venture down that road.
And while the purses tend to be higher in open company, the fields tend to be smaller in the Distaffs these days and you've got females running at the highest levels where if their male equivalent tried in open company they shouldn't be running at a higher level than unlisted Stakes. So it's certainly easier money.

Plus with the way the sport is today there seems to be a preoccupation with finding a median between softness/ease of spot for the horse and what will increase its residual value, especially for fillies. There's less pressure to try and face colts at the big dances, because just having a single graded stakes win is pretty much a golden ticket for females with a moderately decent family. Add to that I've heard from several owners now who've had their fillies appraised and who claim that the people doing the appraisal told them that winning against colts would not increase their value.

The thing too is we 'tolerate' more inferior fillies in the gene pool than we do inferior colts. It's gonna be very hard to find a stud farm willing to stand a colt with no wins and no excuses for those lack of wins, and it'll be harder still to find people then willing to use that stud, no matter how good his family might be. But when it comes to fillies, especially from a good family, we will be much more likely to attempt breeding them, and even those from questionable or suspect families will usually be employed to breed.

The thing too is we 'tolerate' more inferior fillies in the gene pool than we do inferior colts. It's gonna be very hard to find a stud farm willing to stand a colt with no wins and no excuses for those lack of wins, and it'll be harder still to find people then willing to use that stud, no matter how good his family might be. But when it comes to fillies, especially from a good family, we will be much more likely to attempt breeding them, and even those from questionable or suspect families will usually be employed to breed.

This may (or may not) have to do with sheer numbers... given the length of gestation in horses.